Finance ministry employees arrested on charges of accepting bribes
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The investigative body of the public prosecutor’s office has arrested three employees of the finance ministry on the charge of accepting bribes, the ministry said on Wednesday.
The employees were tasked with handling tenders, the ministry statement said. “The ministry is fully cooperating with the investigative body and condemns all forms of corruption,” the statement said. The employees’ contracts have been suspended, it added.
EU Commissioner: No positive developments on rule of law in Hungary
The European Commission cannot report positive developments on the state of the rule of law in Hungary, Didier Reynders, the Commissioner for Justice, said in the European Parliament on Wednesday.
At the debate on the rule of law in Hungary in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), Reynders noted that the EP had launched several infringement procedures against the country for breaching EU values such as academic freedom and the rights of civil organisations, migrants and sexual minorities.
The latest procedure was launched against amendments of Hungary’s child protection law, which the EU has called discriminative against the LGBTQ community.
He said the procedures would hopefully give an opportunity for Hungary to respond to the European Commission’s concerns. Regarding the latest infringement procedure, Reynders said the EC condemned discrimination, aggression or incitement against sexual minorities.
All member states and their institutions must respect EU values and fundamental rights, he said. The EC will consider activating its conditionality mechanism which links EU funding to the rule of law after examining Hungary’s responses to the commission’s concerns, he said.